


Welcome Home

by belllamyblaking



Category: The 100
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-12
Updated: 2015-03-12
Packaged: 2018-03-17 14:35:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3532976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belllamyblaking/pseuds/belllamyblaking
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"She brought down an entire mountain just to save our people."</p><p>Clarke Griffin was a living legend. She was their hero. And she was gone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome Home

**Author's Note:**

> the aftermath of 2x16. my heart is still broken you guys.

_”May we meet again.”_

Her words burned in his mind for three months. _Three months_. He didn’t think he could do it, run the camp without her, but with a little help, he managed. For a while, he didn’t talk about her. Whenever someone brought her up, he closed himself off and completely shut down. No one knew just how bad it was until he got into a fight with Raven in front of his tent.

_“It’s been weeks, Bellamy. We _have_ to go find her!” she had yelled._

_“You don’t think I know how long she’s been gone?! You don’t think I haven’t been counting the days?!” he shouted right back._

_“You’re a coward,” she didn’t yell but those three words managed to hit him in the gut and he felt the air leave his lungs. “You should have gone after her, or tried to convince her to stay, but you just let her walk away.”_

_“Maybe we aren’t enough for her anymore, Raven. Have you ever thought about that?” Bellamy wanted to take the words back as soon as he had said them. He knew they weren’t true, but he said them anyway. The look on Raven’s face was enough to make him want to apologize, but she was already storming off. At least the brace Wick made her was holding up._

Winter came and went and nobody died. It seemed any threat the grounders posed was non-existent by now, and Bellamy liked to think he was doing okay. He spent most of his days in council meetings with Abby and Kane, trying to decide what their next course of action was. Bellamy only half-listened. The only reason they even let him attend was because he was taking Clarke's place. It wasn't like they actually cared about what he had to say. 

At night, Bellamy laid in his tent, staring at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep, unwilling to relive the day he let Clarke walk away. He had dreams after she left, dreams where he convinced her to stay or where he went with her. Dreams that felt so real, when he woke up, he was actually looking around for Clarke. Then he would realize they were just dreams and he felt the heavy weight of reality sink onto his shoulders once more. He stood at the gate a lot, watching the spot in the woods where Clarke disappeared, hoping she would come back to them. To _him_. He dreamt once that he saw her walking out of the woods but that's all it was. A dream. He would rather live in dreams with Clarke than a reality without her. 

One night, while a bunch of kids were sitting around a fire with Lincoln and Octavia, he heard Clarke's name. Before he could stop himself, his curiosity got the best of him and he went to join them.

"- a hero," he caught the last bit of what one of the boys was saying and he couldn't help the small smile when he sat down beside Octavia. 

"She brought down an entire mountain just to save our people," a girl said knowingly. 

Clarke was a living legend. After that, he constantly heard stories about her, about how she risked her life for the life of her people. She was their hero. And she was gone. 

It wasn't long before Kane managed to strike up a deal with the grounders to trade for supplies. They had things the Arkers couldn't get and the Arkers had moonshine. They had their own alcohol, but they took a liking to Monty's moonshine so much that it was the basis of why they started traded with them in the first place. Nobody ever heard from Lexa again, and Bellamy was glad. He wasn't sure he'd be able to keep his cool if she were to start coming around camp. He blamed Lexa for what happened to Clarke. If She had kept to the truce, none of it would have happened. He knew people would have been slaughtered, but didn't the grounders have enough warriors to spare? They would have been able to fight the mountain. But they didn't. Lexa chose to make a deal, endangering the lives of their people inside that mountain. He would never be able to forgive that.

He heard Lincoln talking to the one of the grounders and he overheard "yellow-haired warrior" thrown in and he immediately knew they were talking about Clarke. He interjected himself into the conversation. 

"Is it Clarke? Has someone seen her?" he asked, half panicked, half excited. 

Lincoln shook his head. "Only stories, like the ones the kids here tell." Bellamy visibly deflated. He didn't want to lose hope, but he was starting to feel like she might never come home. 

Spring came with a lot of rain, not that anybody minded. The rain meant more fresh water. It meant they wouldn't have to keep going out to find it and bringing it back to camp. He remembered the first time it rained when the drop ship landed. _Whatever the hell we want._ He scoffed at himself. He was so stupid. 

Bellamy was in his tent with a book he found in an old bunker. Most of the pages were worn but he liked reading what he could and sometimes made up what the missing words were. It was better than just sitting around and doing nothing. At least he didn't look pathetic. He heard a commotion outside but he didn't bother to get up. Miller was on duty and whatever it was, he could handle it. 

"Bellamy!" It was Octavia's voice. He could hear running and he stood just as she threw the flap of his tent open. 

"What? What is it? Are you okay?" his eyes were wild with panic.

"You have to come see," she was grinning from ear to ear and took off again. 

Bellamy followed her out, his brow furrowed. What the hell was going on? Then he saw her. The gate was opening and he saw her walking in, a swarm of people around her. He thought he was dreaming again. He took a few deep breaths, even pinched himself in the arm to try to wake himself up. No, not a dream. She was back. 

"Come on, Blake, before everybody gets to her first," Raven was tugging on his arm and he followed dumbly. 

"Clarke," he muttered. At first he was angry. Angry because she had just left him to do this on his own. Angry because... because why? Because the guilt of what she - _they_ \- had done weighed so heavily on her that she couldn't look her own people in the eye? The anger gave way to relief. Relief because she was alive. Relief because she was back. 

"Alright people, get out of my way!" Raven shouted. "Girl with a bad leg comin' through!'

People moved out of Raven's way and Bellamy's, as she was still dragging him behind her. When they reached Clarke, Raven pulled her into her arms and Bellamy would have sworn Raven was crying. 

"Don't you _ever_ do that again," Raven snapped, pulling back to look at Clarke. 

“I’m not leaving again,” Clarke promised.

Bellamy took the time to study her face. She didn't look any different. There were cuts that had been healed over but other than that, she was still Clarke. _His_ Clarke. He took a step back when Monty and Jasper ran in to hug her at the same time. She laughed as she hugged them back and Bellamy's heart raced. It wasn't a sound he thought he'd ever hear again. Octavia and Lincoln were next. Octavia said something to Clarke before the two hugged but Bellamy was too far back to hear what it was. Clarke hugged Lincoln, too, telling him that she was glad to see him. Everybody looked at Bellamy expectantly, as did Clarke. Oh, was it his turn, now? He closed the distance between them in a few short strides and wrapped her in his arms, hugging her as tightly as he should have when she left.

"Welcome home, Clarke," he said quietly in her ear.

Later that night, Clarke kissed him. Not on the cheek, but really kissed him, and for the first time in a long time, he was genuinely happy.

**Author's Note:**

> so i may continue this. i may not. let me know what you think!


End file.
